A BISHOP ON POLITICAL LYING.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1233, 16 October 1885, Page 3

A BISHOP ON POLITICAL LYING.

The Rev. H.M. Kennedy, vicar of Plnmpton, near Carlisle, issued recently an address to the Cumberland electors, in which the fallowing passage occurred .—“ Be not befooled. Sons of toil, do not in politics trust a Tory. No, not if he, came to you in an archangel’s garb, and on ben led knee befo r e God’s high altar swore by the sign of man’s redemption that ho only meint you well. If you have any cause to fear him, use deception. I advise yon, of two evils, in plain terms to choose the least. It he must have an answer, tell your master a lie with your tongue in ptefeienco to marking with your pencil a terrible lie against yourself, your family, your clan, your country, and your God.’’ The Bishop of

Carlisle ha« addressed a letter to Dr Prescott, Archdeacon of- Carlisle, in which he says o-ipioa of the address have b-en lor warded to him from several qua’ ters, mi l strong opinions expVkssiid ja'Jd-’JtsJseaoda lous clui abler,., and as' to the disgrace brought upon the Church by such an utterance from one of its clergy. “I am not save,” his lordship continues, ‘has-to )he legal limits ot licence of utterance ‘ which may be permitted to a clergyman when he chooses to address his countrymen, not from-the pulpit,-but throughjilhe ordinary medium of the Press ; and certainly I have no desire to take such steps as might lead to a legal definition. It would probably do more harnti than good if I attempted in any way'to-restrain the freedom, of utterance of a clergyman by any other means than moral suasion and fatherly remonstrance! In the present instance the Bishop does not suppose that suasion or remonstrance will produce any good result; but the character of Mr Kennedy’s address is such that he is compelled to break silence and to “ pros test against its monstrous utterances ” in tbe name of himself, and, he believes, of the whole clergy. There is much- that -is w’ld, m«oh that is absurd, much" that is most offensive in its expression throughout tha address ” ; but his lordship says he passes all the rest by for the purpose ot concentrating attention upon tha passage above quoted. Upon that point the Bishop remarks:-r~ “ Here we have'a distinct charge to tell a lie from one who is bound by all that is sacred to be.a preacher of honesty and truth. I have seldom seen any printed utterance that has more grieved and astonished me. The men of Cumberland, unless I mistake their character, are too sturdy to be afraid of voting according to their judgment, and too,honest to adopt the paltry, sneaking line of conduct which their set-constituted director suggests to them. Mr Kennedy’s advice is too outrageously opposed to Northern honesty'and independence, not to say to all the teaching of Him who came to hear witness to the truth, to make it practically very dangerous to the character and conduct of the men of Cumberland. But this consideration does not diminish my indignation at the fact ot the advice to lie having Oeen given by one of the clergy of this diocese. I appeal from that shameful advice to the teaching which, as I trust, comes abundantly from the lips and hearts of my clergy as a bo y. I appeal from it to the consciences of the people of Cumberland themselves, and I f el confident that they wi 1 not he induced to lie, even at the instigation of one who should have known better than to give them such hateful counsel,”—“ .European Mail.”